Managing talent. (Future Focus: Emerging Issues).

Managing talent is among the primary concerns of CEOs, according to a Conference Board study, The CEO Challenge: Top Marketplace and Management Issues 2001. And though the goal of all HR professionals should be to manage their workforces in an equitable fashion, the changing nature of work in

Studies done by the Census Bureau, the Department of Labor and scores of private institutions point out that changing demographics, the increasing role of technology and a move away from a manufacturing economy to one dependent on information and services may fundamentally change the employer/worker relationship. Work based on brainpower and interpersonal skills will replace work based on physical skills. And change will be constant, manifesting itself in the workplace through the need for continuous learning and greatly increased labor mobility. Studies also point out that among younger workers, there is more loyalty toward the type of work than toward specific employers.

Those workers who keep current with needed skills will meet with success, and employers who can recruit and keep these workers may be at an advantage in a globally competitive marketplace.

True, attracting and retaining good employees always has been a challenge for employers, but in an era of global competition and razor-thin margins, the war for talent that occurred in the information technology industry during the late 1990s may be repeated across the whole information and services industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that the information and services industry will account for more than 90 percent of the workforce growth in the coming decade.

With some exceptions, employment policies have largely attempted to treat everyone the same through rigid compensation and benefits systems. But in an era where those who possess specialized skills or who can adapt quickly to changing circumstances are highly valued, flexibility in all areas of employment policies may be necessary. Discrimination, based on performance, may become a useful staffing agent in some highly competitive industries.

The challenge for human resource professionals will be to measure productivity in hard-to-measure skills. It's one thing to measure productivity for salespeople, quite another to measure it for customer service positions or home health care workers. To this end, HR professionals may need to understand their business much more clearly and also design effective performance management systems.

Differences in pay and benefits, resulting from performance-based discrimination, may allow for the flexibility needed to manage talent. There is a cautionary note, though: discrimination, even based on performance, is fraught with danger. In an era of increased transparency, even clearly spelled-out policies tying performance and productivity to benefits may lead to resentment from other employees.

But, due to labor mobility and the increasing value of human capital to the bottom line, there may not be much of a choice. Accommodating individual needs through the use of flexible employment policies may just give you the edge to manage key talent and to build loyalty.

For more information on emerging issues, visit www.shrm.org/trends.

Dave Patel is the manager of work-place trends and forecasting at SHRM.